William Baer (writer)

William Baer (writer)
William Baer (born December 29, 1948) is an American writer, editor, translator, and academic. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright (Portugal), and a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Early life and education
William Baer was born in Geneva, New York, in 1948. He was raised in The Bronx, New York City, and Wayne, New Jersey. After graduating from Rutgers University with a B.A. in English, he received an M.A. in English from New York University. He completed his doctoral dissertation in English at the University of South Carolina under the direction of James Dickey, before attending the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars where he earned an M.A. in Creative Writing, working under David St. John and John Barth. He also graduated from USC School of Cinematic Arts with an M.A. in Cinema, receiving the Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Award.
Literary activities
Baer is the author of six books of poetry, including The Unfortunates, recipient of the T. S. Eliot Poetry Prize; "Borges" and Other Sonnets; and "Bocage" and Other Sonnets, recipient of the X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize. His other books include translations from the Portuguese, Luís de Camões: Selected Sonnets; the textbook, Writing Metrical Poetry; and five collections of interviews, including Classic American Films: Conversations with the Screenwriters.
In 1989, William Baer was the Founding Editor of The Formalist (1990–2004), a small poetry journal which played a significant role in the Formalist poetry revival (New Formalism). He is also the former poetry editor and film critic for Crisis Magazine. Currently, he serves as the founding director of the St. Robert Southwell Institute, and previously he served as the director of the University of Evansville Press, the contributing editor at Measure, the faculty director of The Evansville Review, and the founding director of the Richard Wilbur Poetry Series, the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award, and the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize.
In 1995, William Baer received an N.E.A. Creative Writing Grant in fiction, and his short stories have been widely published in such journals as The Iowa Review, Kansas Quarterly, The Chariton Review, and The Dalhousie Review. In 2015, two collections of his short fiction were published: Times Square and Other Stories and One-and-Twenty Tales. More recently, he published two novels: Companion and New Jersey Noir.
William Baer's various plays have been produced at more than thirty American theaters, including the 13th Street Theatre in New York City, Chicago Dramatists, and the Metropolitan Playhouse of New York. A recent full-length drama, Three Generations of Imbeciles, received the New Works of Merit Playwriting Award and was chosen for the regionals of the 2013 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Awards
AACT NewPlayFest Award, 2015
New Works of Merit Playwriting Award, 2011
Guggenheim Fellowship, 2007
X.J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, 2007
Melvin M. Peterson Chair in Literature, 2006
James H. Wilson Playwriting Award, 1999
T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize, 1997
N.E.A. Creative Writing Fellowship in Fiction, 1995
Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Award, 1986
Fulbright Lectureship in American Literature, Portugal, 1981
Selected books
New Jersey Noir, Able Muse Press, 2018
Companion, James Ward Kirk Publishing, 2017
Thirteen on Form: Conversations with Poets, Measure Press, 2016
Love Sonnets, Kelsay Books, 2016
Times Square and Other Stories, Able Muse Press, 2015
One-and-Twenty Tales, Mockingbird Lane Press, 2015
Psalter, Truman State University Press, 2011
"Bocage" and Other Sonnets, Texas Review Press, 2008
Classic American Films: Conversations with the Screenwriters, Praeger, 2007
Rhyming Poems: A Contemporary Anthology, University of Evansville Press, 2007
The Ballad Rode into Town, Turning Point, 2007
Writing Metrical Poetry, Writer's Digest Books, 2006, Measure Press, 2015
The Conservative Poets, University of Evansville Press, 2006
Luís de Camões: Selected Sonnets, University of Chicago Press, 2005
Sonnets: 150 Sonnets, University of Evansville Press, 2005
Fourteen on Form: Conversations with Poets, University Press of Mississippi, 2004
"Borges" and Other Sonnets, Truman State University Press, 2003
Elia Kazan: Interviews, University Press of Mississippi, 2000
The Amistad Case, Eldridge Publishing, 1998
The Unfortunates, Truman State University Press, 1997
Conversations with Derek Walcott, University Press of Mississippi, 1996
References
External links
Poetry Foundation
Guggenheim
Poets and Writers
Southwell
Measure Press
Measure Press Staff
Formalist poets
Living people
1948 births
Rutgers University alumni
New York University Graduate School of Arts and Science alumni
University of South Carolina alumni
USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni
University of Evansville faculty
People from Geneva, New York